I'm so sad that we lost you. You were taken too soon. You were a true American patriot and I bow my head in honor of you service to our country. You put your country before yourself and with your loss America itself died a little today. RIP.

I'm so saddened by your loss. You were taken too soon. You were a true American patriot and I bow my head in honor of you service to our country. You put your country before yourself and with your loss America itself died a little today. RIP.

I disagreed with much of his political worldview . . . but there were also plenty of times he stood on principle and did the right thing, so I respected him for that. If most of the Republican Party were more of his temperament I think we wouldn't be in our current mess.

Nothing could fundamentally lay bare the difference in character between John McCain and tRump better this:

"Senator John Sidney McCain III was asked what he wants on his tombstone.

It was January 2015, and the Arizona Republican had just become chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.He was as the N.Y. Times says after his death at age 81, after a battle with brain cancer "a proud naval aviator who climbed from depths of despair as a prisoner of war in Vietnam to pinnacles of power as a Republican congressman and senator from Arizona and a two-time contender for the presidency."His answer to the N.Y. Times' Sheryl Gay Stolberg:

"He served his country."

Axios

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"On the shores of a still and peaceful lake on the edge of downtown Hanoi, the inscription on a faded monument stands as a reminder of a violent event 51 years ago," Reuters reports.

The sculpture, which depicts an airman with his hands above his head in front of a broken plane wing, says: "On Oct 26, 1967, at Truc Bach Lake, the military and people of Hanoi arrested Major John Sidney McCain, a pilot of the American Navy's air force."Several U.S. citizens living in the Vietnamese capital visited the monument with tributes. "Most brought flowers. One man offered a folded U.S. flag." Axios

Cody Keenan, speechwriter for President Obama from 2007 through now, tweets:

"Met John McCain once. I was a 22 year old senate intern waiting for an elevator. The doors opened, and he and another GOP senator were inside. I apologized and said I'd [wait] for the next one, but McCain told me to hop on.""'Who do you work for,' he asked. 'Ted Kennedy, sir.' 'He's a good man,' McCain said. 'Without him, we're lost.'""The other Senator scoffed in disgust and got off the elevator at the next floor. While he was still in earshot, McCain raised his voice a little and said, 'Don't mind him. He's an icehole.'"Senator McCain passed away nine years to the day after his friend, Sen. Edward Moore Kennedy." Axios

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"In 1968, less than a year after his Navy bomber was shot down, the imprisoned McCain was abruptly offered unconditional release by the North Vietnamese, perhaps because his father had just been named the commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific. McCain was still badly crippled from his crash and the poor medical treatment that followed, yet he adhered to the P.O.W. code of honor and refused to be repatriated ahead of American prisoners who had been in captivity longer than he. His refusal was adamant. His guard told him, "Now, McCain, it will be very bad for you." He was tortured for his defiance, and ultimately spent more than two years in solitary confinement. The abuse, combined with the after-effects of his injuries, left him physically marked. He could have avoided it all, but out of loyalty and - one has to name it - love for his comrades, he chose not to."

Best line I read today, "McCain wasn't bipartisan. He was a partisan but a decent one." Like others, rarely agreed with him but respected him for being forthright and a stand-up, country-first American. Also he didn't demonize the other side of the isle.

Hard to imagine a current Republican candidate shutting this crap down like McCain did.

That is what I believe real American exceptionalism looks like: two good men making their case, running their campaigns on real principles and setting an example for people of character in this country.

Hard to imagine a current Republican candidate shutting this crap down like McCain did.

That is what I believe real American exceptionalism looks like: two good men making their case, running their campaigns on real principles and setting an example for people of character in this country.

I hope we return to honor and goodness soon.

And I'll also say that it's not perfect: in stopping the "Obama is an Arab" talk he kind of inadvertently suggests that he's a "good family man" BECAUSE he's not an Arab. I don't think that's what he meant, but it could be interpreted that way.

Still, he moved in right away to put a stop to that talk, and I respect him for having that impulse. I don't think our current President has that impulse.

The letter was delivered and read aloud Monday by McCain's friend and former aide, Rick Davis.

Show less"My fellow Americans, whom I have gratefully served for sixty years, and especially my fellow Arizonans,Thank you for the privilege of serving you and for the rewarding life that service in uniform and in public office has allowed me to lead. I have tried to serve our country honorably. I have made mistakes, but I hope my love for America will be weighed favorably against them.I have often observed that I am the luckiest person on earth. I feel that way even now as I prepare for the end of my life. I have loved my life, all of it. I have had experiences, adventures and friendships enough for ten satisfying lives, and I am so thankful. Like most people, I have regrets. But I would not trade a day of my life, in good or bad times, for the best day of anyone else's.I owe that satisfaction to the love of my family. No man ever had a more loving wife or children he was prouder of than I am of mine. And I owe it to America. To be connected to America's causes liberty, equal justice, respect for the dignity of all people brings happiness more sublime than life's fleeting pleasures. Our identities and sense of worth are not circumscribed but enlarged by serving good causes bigger than ourselves.'Fellow Americans' that association has meant more to me than any other. I lived and died a proud American. We are citizens of the world's greatest republic, a nation of ideals, not blood and soil. We are blessed and are a blessing to humanity when we uphold and advance those ideals at home and in the world. We have helped liberate more people from tyranny and poverty than ever before in history. We have acquired great wealth and power in the process.We weaken our greatness when we confuse our patriotism with tribal rivalries that have sown resentment and hatred and violence in all the corners of the globe. We weaken it when we hide behind walls, rather than tear them down, when we doubt the power of our ideals, rather than trust them to be the great force for change they have always been.We are three-hundred-and-twenty-five million opinionated, vociferous individuals. We argue and compete and sometimes even vilify each other in our raucous public debates. But we have always had so much more in common with each other than in disagreement. If only we remember that and give each other the benefit of the presumption that we all love our country we will get through these challenging times. We will come through them stronger than before. We always do.Ten years ago, I had the privilege to concede defeat in the election for president. I want to end my farewell to you with the heartfelt faith in Americans that I felt so powerfully that evening.I feel it powerfully still.Do not despair of our present difficulties but believe always in the promise and greatness of America, because nothing is inevitable here. Americans never quit. We never surrender. We never hide from history. We make history.Farewell, fellow Americans. God bless you, and God bless America"

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Apparently Rep Inhofe thinks that it is partially a dead man's fault that the White House can't get the flag lowering right. Per Inhofe, said the former GOP presidential nominee was not "courteous" to Trump.

I guess fighting for your country, being a prisoner of war, serving in Congress, and running for President of the United States of America means nothing. Talk about being tone deaf.

I think he and the Trumpkins are more brain dead than tone deaf. That's how you form a cult.

p.s. McCain was still a GOP and while he gets a pass in death for having principles and taking a country-first stance...he also wanted to win badly and brought in Sarah Palin. Many believe that opened the flood gate to the extreme right kooks, deep state dingbats, Alex Jones and the Qanon idiots.

You're right, BA, McCain was the biggest midget in the GOP circus. Only 83% with Trump. I will miss him 17%.

At one time he deserved the maverick title but not since 2008. By elevating the know nothing moron Palin to VP he legitimized both stupidity and birthed the nativist Tea Party wing that led to Trump. Is it any wonder Palin was an early Trump endorser? Can we also recall the dog whistles Palin-as McCain's surrogate- delivered against Obama in 2008 regarding his association with terrorists while "decent" John McCain stood silent.

McCain is a product of our half a$$ed media who thinks anyone who would have a drink or associate with them must be " a decent human being."

"When Kelly called the president at 7 am and told him he needed to let the staff take care of the McCain issue, the president wouldn't budge. A frustrated Kelly went to senior staff mtg and said the week would go ahead as planned...

Some Trump advisers egged him on as he watched lengthy tributes to McCain on TV and got angry, but a group including Sarah Sanders, Kelly, Bill Shine and even Pence and Bolton got him to sign off on a new plan by afternoon."

I think he and the Trumpkins are more brain dead than tone deaf. That's how you form a cult.

p.s. McCain was still a GOP and while he gets a pass in death for having principles and taking a country-first stance...he also wanted to win badly and brought in Sarah Palin. Many believe that opened the flood gate to the extreme right kooks, deep state dingbats, Alex Jones and the Qanon idiots.

With regard to Palin, I have always had deep respect and affection for any woman that can bring the mother f'ing ruckus. There is a certain part of me that wanted McCain to win because during the Holiday Season those drunk fightin' Palins would have come tumblin' out of the White House doors onto the lawn and be hair pullin', scratchin', bitin', eye pokin', hair pullin', crotch kickin' and sucker punchin' in the mud and the blood and the beer. Total missed entertainment opportunity.

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"Even in death, John McCain has one final burn planned for two of his biggest foes Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump at a moment when much of the world will be watching," Politico reports.

"The Republican senator from Arizona, who planned his own funeral, chose Russian dissident Vladimir Kara-Murza as one of the dignitaries to carry his coffin to the front of the Washington National Cathedral at Saturday's memorial service."